


Happy New Year

by LHAo3 (LuluHalulu)



Category: Lovely Little Losers, Nothing Much to Do
Genre: F/M, Fluff, post-LLL
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-10 12:58:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5586508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuluHalulu/pseuds/LHAo3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Five minutes to midnight," Bea remarked</p>
<p>Ben smiled and nodded, "Any new year's resolutions?"</p>
<p>Bea rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Oh please, you know how I feel about those. If nobody ever keeps them, then what's the point?"</p>
<p>Ben hummed and Bea felt his arms around her tighten, just a little. "I don't know—I think there is a point, even if most people don't manage to keep their resolutions."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happy New Year

**Author's Note:**

> Still can't believe Lovely Little Losers is over...I'm gonna miss it so much!

Ben had always said that nobody threw a party quite like Peter Donaldson—any party that involved copious amounts of booze, that is. And of course, he was proven right once again when Peter's New Year's Eve get-together turned into a full-on rager.

The school year had been...eventful (which was the diplomatic way to put it) and true-to-form, it had had a very bittersweet ending. Everyone had arrived back in Auckland in a bit of a state—eager to see Leo, but incredibly worried.

Peter had, relatively spontaneously, a couple nights before, decided to still throw his annual New Year's Eve party. Despite the fact that he had thrown the party for years, with everything going on, he hadn't planned to do it this year. But listening to Bea explain the plan the doctors had set out for Leo's treatment, while gripping Ben's hand for support, as Hero could only nod along silently, gave him his push. Everyone needed cheering up—everyone needed a fun bring-in to the New Year—some hope that the New Year would be better than this one. And what better way to do that, than a cheesy, boozy, New Year's Eve get-together? 

Out of respect for Leo, it _had_ just started out as a get-together—Bea, Ben, Hero, Balthazar, John, Ursula (who brought Dogberry and Verges with her), Claudio (and his girlfriend), Leo (and some of his friends), but the guest list quickly grew to include Freddie and Meg who decided to drive down for the party, and then Kit, Costa, Jaquie, Rosa, and (much to Peter's dismay) Vegan Fred decided to come along as well, and then more people from their Messina High days (including the entirety of their old football team) found themselves invited too, plus some friends of friends and acquaintances of friends, and before Peter even realized what was happening, his house was filled to the brim with what felt like the entire youth population of New Zealand, drunk off their ass.

Leo _did_ seem cheered up though, watching everyone else make fools of themselves, so Ben thought Peter should take that as a victory anyway. 

As opposed to Peter, Ben, himself, was never one for huge parties—they were fun for the first twenty minutes to an hour, even two hours if it was a particularly fun party with people he liked, but then they just sent his anxiety in a bit of a spin and the rest of the night would be spent looking at his watch constantly and counting down how much longer he had to stay, and sometimes just giving up and heading for the bathtub with a bottle of beer. Parties were definitely made easier with Bea by his side though, because she always checked in on him, made sure he was alright, and pulled him out of his spiral of constant time-checking. 

At around eleven, she'd grabbed his hand and pulled him out to the empty backyard, and they'd been sitting there, curled up in one of Peter's parents' outdoor loungers ever since.

"Five minutes to midnight," Bea remarked

Ben smiled and nodded, "Any new year's resolutions?"

Bea rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Oh please, you know how I feel about those. If nobody ever keeps them, then what's the point?"

Ben hummed and Bea felt his arms around her tighten, just a little. "I don't know—I think there _is_ a point, even if most people don't manage to keep their resolutions." 

Bea looked up and noticed him looking thoughtfully through the window at the party inside. "I've always liked the fact that no matter what has happened, and despite the fact that we never know what will happen in the future, we all _still_ come together every single year, and celebrate another year gone by, and continue to have hope for the new year ahead."

He turned back to her. "Resolutions might seem silly if nobody ever keeps them, but I think it's pretty amazing that people continue to make them anyway—like no matter what happens, when New Year's Eve hits, people still have so much hope for the future, and that doesn't feel pointless to me."

They watched each other silently for a moment, before Bea smiled and reached up to cup his cheek.

"That's very philosophical of you." She smirked, "What's your new year's resolution then?"

Ben wasn't smiling, but she saw his lips tug upwards a bit when she asked, and for a moment he had a playful look in his eyes. It looked like he was about to make a joke and follow up with something a lot less serious, but then that look in his eyes disappeared and he looked to the side, away from her. 

"Ben?"

He turned back and looked nervous, but oddly determined. Like just saying his resolution out loud to her would make it so real he would _have_ to keep it.

"I think...well, I want to—" He took a breath. "Unless I'm taking pictures, or doing it to help somebody else, I don't want to even touch a camera this year."

Bea raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"I mean, there's _a lot_ of things I should improve on next year, considering how much of a jackass I was this year, but I hope that maybe sorting through my own crap will be a good start." He shrugged, "Making sure that I talk to _people_ about how I feel instead of just turning on the camera and assuming it will make my problems disappear."

They'd had this discussion before (notably off-camera), on the ride back to Auckland, and then in the couple weeks that had followed. They'd finally talked—in fact, not just talked, because they did that all the time, but actually _communicated_ how they felt. Bea explained how she'd felt abandoned when he'd decided to move to Wellington, and that maybe that had been a tad hypocritical considering she wanted to leave and travel, but she couldn't help that that had been how she'd felt. And then having him impose those godforsaken rules and choosing them over and over again, over her—it felt like he was sending her a message and she was really hurt by it. 

He explained that he had never wanted to push her away, but he too had felt abandoned when she decided to travel without him, but he couldn't ask her to stay because it was something she'd wanted to do for so long. It just seemed easier to fully dive into his new life in Wellington—but that _hadn't_ been easy; everyone in the flat had been basically miserable, he hadn't made any new friends aside from ones he had met through his flatmates, he was failing his classes, feeling unbelievably homesick, and it just seemed easier to turn back to the camera. The videos had, in a way, brought them all together last year—he thought maybe it would help this year too. And even if it didn't, at least he would have the viewers to talk to and rely on when nobody else was around.

They'd talked for hours and hours about their fears, their anxieties, and finally with everything out in the open, they'd decided to give their relationship a proper chance to improve and progress. They still loved each other, after all—that had never changed. But now they also understood that it wasn't enough to just proclaim 'COMMUNICATION' to the Internet and expect it to happen—they could talk and talk and talk for hours without any sort of break—it was addressing the important things that was hard, and they decided that if their relationship was going to work, they needed to constantly make an active effort to communicate. They couldn't get lazy about it, because, as their history established, they were too prone to miscommunication otherwise. 

Still, even with all that discussion, Bea hadn't been expecting Ben to say all this so outright. It made her strangely proud—just by recognizing it all, he'd made a step in right direction.

"That's a great resolution." Bea simply said, and it made Ben smile shyly and shrug.

Bea moved her free hand and laced her fingers through his. "I think 2016 is gonna be an amazing year." 

Ben grinned, "Oh yeah, why is that?"

"Well...it's probably going to be really hard some days, but I think Leo will get through this, and hopefully we've all learned enough from our mistakes this year that we'll make better choices next year." 

Ben grinned, "Yeah, I don't think we can go another year ignoring the lessons we've learned."

Bea shook her head, "Nope." She smiled sweetly at him. "But...even if we keep making mistakes—which we definitely will—we have each other." She laughed, "And that's probably a _really_ cheesy thing to say, but I dunno...it makes me happy to know that, and I think it will make the year great no matter what happens."

Ben was beaming, "Beatrice Duke...who knew you were such a sap?"

"Oh, shut up!" She shoved him, "You just went on a rant about how beautiful it is that humanity is so full of hope every new year—that's way worse."

"Yes, but..." Ben leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Everyone already knows that I'm a sap. I'm supposed to be the cheesy one in this relationship, y'know."

Bea rolled her eyes and patted his cheek, "Don't you worry, love. There's no danger of you losing that title."

"Good."

They grinned at each other and started to lean in when they were rudely interrupted by a very drunk Freddie Kingston, followed her boyfriend, looking more amused than ever.

"There you are!" She approached them. "What the hell are you doing out here?! Come inside!" She exclaimed, waving her nearly empty cup.

Kit grinned next to her. "The countdown's about to start." 

And just on cue, the people inside started yelling out the countdown. 

Freddie and Kit ran back inside to join everyone, but Bea and Ben stayed put. 

"I love you," Ben murmured 

Bea set her forehead right up against his and smiled softly. "I love you too."

"Three...two...one!" Balloons popped and the noise from dozens of party horns burst from inside the house. "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Inside everyone was cheering loudly. Peter had jumped the gun and pulled Balthazar into a kiss at least three seconds before he was supposed to, but that didn't seem to concern either of them at all. Freddie and Kit had kissed quickly, but were still holding on to each other and cheering. Everyone else had either grabbed someone to kiss or they were running around cheering and throwing confetti. 

Outside, Bea and Ben kissed slowly, absorbed in their own moment, until the door to the backyard burst open and people flooded out in packs, yelling and dumping more confetti and streamers on to each other. Bea and Ben looked up just in time to see Meg grab their arms and drag them up.

"Okay, you two, enough being gross! Come celebrate with us!" The music was cranked up several notches and dancing resumed outside. 

Bea and Ben grinned at each other and then followed Meg into the crowd. This New Year was off to a pretty fantastic start—but, whatever came their way, they had each other, and for now, that was good enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Not exactly the most well-written fic, but I wanted to write something quickly in time for new year's eve. Also, super cheesy, I know! But I do love writing a good cheesy fic. 
> 
> HAPPY NEW YEAR! :)


End file.
